Aijaz Khan’s Hamid, which explores the Kashmir conflict through the friendship between an eight-year-old Muslim boy and a paramilitary soldier, will be released on March 1, the makers announced on Monday.

Starring Rasika Dugal, Talha Arshad Reshi, Vikas Kumar and Sumit Kaul, Hamid was premiered at the Mumbai Film Festival in October 2018 and screened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival this January.

The film follows eight-year-old Hamid (Reshi), who, on hearing that 786 is “god’s number”, assumes it to be the direct phone line to Allah and calls up with hopes of speaking to his deceased father. Instead, he reaches a Central Reserve Police Force soldier (Vikas Kumar) posted in the state. As a friendship develops, “two lives shattered in the strife of Kashmir find a way to be complete again”, according to the official synopsis.

Loosely based on Kashmiri playwright M Amin Bhat’s Number 786, the film has been produced by Saregama India and Yoodlee Films. Khan’s credits include The White Elephant (2009) and Baankey Ki Crazy Baraat (2015).

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Hamid (2018).